give 360-degree coverage
Seems to me, if I was on that plane, I wouldn't want 360° coverage in all directions that laser can aim. about 180°, tops.
Posted on 09/16/2014 11:08:57 AM PDT by mandaladon
We don't have X-wing fighters just yet, but we may soon have their laser weapons. DARPA is working on a system that's downright Lucasian.
Prepare yourself for a future filled with real-life pew pew! The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is working with Lockheed Martin to test "a new beam control turret... to give 360-degree coverage for high-energy laser weapons operating on military aircraft."
In other words, it stuck a primitive (by rebel standards) "Star Wars"-style laser cannon on a fighter jet and flew it over Michigan eight times.
"These initial flight tests validate the performance of our ABC turret design," Lockheed's Doug Graham said. in a release.
That ABC stands for Aero-adaptive Aero-optic Beam Control, which is designed to allow high-energy lasers to fire on enemy aircraft and missiles from a full 360 degrees -- above, below, and behind the aircraft.
The test flights demonstrated the airworthiness of the turret, but it doesn't appear that anyone or anything in the Great Lakes region was actually zapped as part of testing.
Still, this represents a significant move toward the inevitable merging of the "Star Wars" universe with our own so-called "reality." We've already seen the Navy's laser weapon that's set to deploy, and science has discovered how to create a real-life lightsaber, so perhaps it would be wise to start scanning the galaxies not just for potentially habitable exoplanets, but for planet-size super weapons as well.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnet.com ...
cool
One shot deal? One charged shot, or else you have to figure out how to build a very powerful onboard laser energizer small enough to fit into the aircraft while perhaps carrying other ordinance as well. Wow.
on a clear day you can laser forever....
>>>science has discovered how to create a real-life lightsaber
Wait...WHAT? Where is that?
ABL = cancelled by the Zero.
ATL = still under development and has been for quite a while while the technology is being refined.
This laser weapon thing is not new.
Can they mount it on sharks? Seems like that is the important question left out.
LOL, The stock in prosthetic limbs will skyrocket on that day...
give 360-degree coverage
Seems to me, if I was on that plane, I wouldn't want 360° coverage in all directions that laser can aim. about 180°, tops.
Carry two pods. One above and below fuselage.
>>> fired a few photons into a vacuum chamber with a cloud of extremely cold rubidium atoms
So it works only in a (sorta) vacuum in the presence of rubidium atoms - so it’s not really a vacuum.
No mention of being able to use it as a weapon.
So it’s an incredibly complicated, impractical flashlight that more than likely requires a huge and probably immobile power supply.
meh. Not a light sabre.
I would still like some software (or better yet, hardware) blocking features in the direction of the wings and other important parts.
has been done
Well, I want my flying car too.
This comes close but no seegar.
Personal, electric copter. Have to search the site for the cool vids. 20 min flight time. Not ready for prime time.
There was the Airborne Laser (747) which was designed to shoot down ballistic missiles, but that was cancelled a couple of years ago.
Wouldn't that be interesting?
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